Student Mina Khantan, Professor Behrouz Abdoli, Professor Alireza Farsi,
Volume 0, Issue 0 (11-2019)
Abstract
Transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS) is one of the newest supplementary method in order to improve the athletic performance and mental preparation of professional athletes. In this study, we investigated the effects of 10-session unihemispheric concurrent dual-site anodal-tDCS (a-tDCS) of the primary motor cortex (M1) and dorsolateral prefrontal cortex (DLPFC), on swimming performance, mental toughness (MT) and perceived exertion. 20 male professional swimmers (Age: 19.00±2.86 yrs) were participated in this randomized, double-blind, and sham-controlled study. 100m free-style swimming test, the sport mental toughness questionnaire (SMTQ) and rating of perceived exertion (RPE) were evaluated as pre-tests. Then, athletes received 10-session tDCS (2mA for 20 min). 48 hrs following 10th session of tDCS, evaluations were repeated. ANCOVA was used for statistical analysis. After multi sessions of tDCS, swimming performance improved significantly (P=0.03) and total MT score increased significantly (P=0.046) and no significant change was observed in RPE. Based on the results of this study, multi-session tDCS along with routine training are recommended to improve swimmers performance and psychological aspects. Therefore, tDCS might be consider as a brain conditioning method.
